_Marlborough; Curious Case of Municipal Opposition to County
Magistracy._--Shortly after the invasion of the elder Pretender, the
corporation of Marlborough so far defied the royal authority as to drive
the quarterly county sessions from the town; and high legal opinions were
not wanting to fortify the position thus assumed by the borough, on the
ground, namely, of its municipal charter, which secured to the town a court
of its own.
Now, we all know that in early times a borough's court-leet exempted the
burgesses from the jurisdiction of the sheriff's "tourn," and that up till
the period of the Municipal Reform bill, many charters still existed,
verbally sustaining such right of exemption; but the Queries which I wish
to put are the following. First, Though the crown's representative had no
jurisdiction, had he not a right to enter, and sit on cases foreign to the
borough? Secondly, What are the earliest instances of county quarter
sessions sitting in independent boroughs? Thirdly, Were the cases numerous
of similar acts of resistance at the period alluded to, viz. the reign of
George I.?
I take this occasion to state that I am drawing to conclusion a history of
Silkely Hundred, which includes Marlborough and Lord Ailesbury's seat; and
shall feel grateful for any information relating to the Pretender's
influence in that district. That it must have been considerable may be
argued from the Ailesbury alliance by marriage with the young Pretender.